The Attorney General's office filed an appeal Wednesday with the Supreme Court on behalf of the state, Governor Chris Sununu, the New Hampshire Department of Education and Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut.

The city of Berlin has struggled for years with cuts in state funding to its schools. But this spring, there was hope that the Democrat-controlled legislature would send more aid to Berlin and other poor cities and towns. Governor Sununu’s veto of that budget in June means Berlin is now in limbo, even as students head back to school.

New Hampshire Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut was in Dublin on Wednesday night to encourage residents frustrated with their school district and property taxes to consider school choice.

Edelblut was invited by resident Leo Plante, who thinks Dublin should pull out of the Contoocook Valley School District and give annual $15,000 vouchers to parents to send their kids to private and public schools of their choice.

The Exchange follows up on the NHPR series "Adequate," about how the state decides the value of public education, with a discussion in front of a live audience at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30th. We speak with NHPR reporter Sarah Gibson, school superintendents, an attorney who has represented school districts, and two representatives from the House Education Committee on how the Legislature is handling public education funding.

For schools across New Hampshire, special education is a growing need and a growing cost. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Manchester, the state’s largest district, where special ed expenditures have nearly tripled in the last twenty years.

On Thursday, the Democratic-led House will vote on its version of the state budget. The budget, which is expected to pass, includes a $160 million increase in state aid to schools - the largest since the state ramped up funding twenty years ago in response to the Claremont lawsuits.

But with Governor Sununu’s veto pen at the ready, the budget faces an uphill battle in the next few months.

Teacher salaries make up a big chunk of school budgets in New Hampshire. Pittsfield has never been able to offer high salaries, but with creative projects in the past few years, it’s attracted good teachers and high praise. With recent state cuts, though, many say that’s become impossible to sustain.

A school funding lawsuit against the state got its first hearing at the Cheshire County Superior Court on Friday morning. The two plaintiffs, the Contoocook Valley and Winchester School Districts, argue that the state is not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to fund an adequate education for all New Hampshire students.

The city of Berlin has been making some tough decisions lately. As state aid for education declines, Berlin is struggling to keep its schools open. And it’s not alone. Some towns have brought lawsuits against the state, claiming it isn’t covering enough education costs.

The Winchester School District is joining a school funding lawsuit against the state. Winchester, which is located in the southwest corner of New Hampshire, is the third district that's party to the lawsuit, brought earlier this month by the ConVal School Board.

The ConVal lawsuit claims the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to pay for an adequate education and that it has downshifted these costs to local taxpayers.

New Hampshire’s challenge in funding public schools is the topic of a new series from New Hampshire Public Radio titled Adequate: How a State Decides the Value of Public Education, which will begin airing Thursday, March 21.

The reporting effort by NHPR’s education reporter Sarah Gibson is part of the newsroom’s State of Democracy project, which looks at the impact of state policy on people’s day-to-day lives. Stories in the Adequate series will look at how schools are struggling to serve their students with rising education costs and declining state funds.

A school funding lawsuit filed last week against the state is getting some support. The Monadnock School District announced Tuesday it’s joining the ConVal School District’s efforts to sue the state over education funding.

The lawsuit claims the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to pay for an adequate education and it seeks millions more in funding.

In a move that surprised many education funding advocates, the ConVal School District in southwestern New Hampshire filed a lawsuit today against the state, claiming lawmakers have failed to fund an adequate education.

The complaint names the state of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Department of Education, Governor Sununu and DOE Commissioner Frank Edelblut as defendants.

It says the "adequacy aid" that the state sends to districts needs to triple to meet basic requirements laid out in state law.